Reply #25: Yes, he may indeed think that, but the pope does not control the bishops

[DemBones DemBones]

the way most non-Catholics seem to think. Bishops have a lot of power. The pope could issue an official Church policy to stop the bishops from denying Communion to "pro-choice" politicians but he probably won't, in my view. He (and Catholics in other countries) expected American bishops to straighten out the problems in their dioceses related to priests abusing boys, rather than wait for him to take action. It's also because of the power of bishops that John Paul II put Cardinal Law in a ceremonial position in a church in Rome. He couldn't send Law (a bishop) to live in another bishop's diocese so he brought him into his own turf.

Pope John Paul II is the head of the Church but he doesn't want to micromanage the bishops, who are heads of dioceses. That's not how a pope is supposed to govern.